Natasha Jonas hopes victory against Ivana Habazin at the Liverpool Exhibition Center this Saturday will put her back in line for her final fight with long-term rival Katie Taylor.
It won’t be easy for Habazin, however, and victory means Jonas will add the WBC title to her IBF belt, merging it with WBA champion Lauren Price next year.
Habazin expressed frustration with the negotiations that have begun between Jonas and Price during a boxing week press conference. Jonas agrees with Habazin and believes it’s too early to plan a unification, as both she and Price face tough tests on Saturday.
“Listen, a lot of times, even as amateurs, when you get a draw, you see which side of the table you’re on and you think, ‘Well, they’re going to beat them, and then they’re going to beat them, ‘Then you figure out who to go to next and it never works out,’ Jonas told BoxingScene. “Look at Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua. Has it ever been successful? No, for how long? For five years we’ve been waiting, saying, ‘Okay, if Fury beats this, AJ beats that , then we’ll get that. ‘But it never works out. So, you just have to focus on the fight in front of you and don’t worry about anything else.
“I agree with Habazin. It would be a little disrespectful to think these two are going to be pushed down. We’re just going through the motions. We’re not. We’re fighting.”
The main reason Jonas was chosen to beat Habazin was because they had common opponents in Mikayla Mayer and Terry Harper. Habazin lost both, while Jonas defeated Mayer and drew a controversial draw with Harper.
“It’s easy for fans to make comparisons,” Jonas said. “The same goes for Aubernave; Terri [Harper] beat Obernauf, I didn’t, but then [me and Harper] Painted. So, people just assume, “Oh, Tash can’t beat Obernauf, so if Terry beats Obernauf, Terry will beat Tash,” but that’s not the case.
“Style makes the fight and like I say in boxing, nothing ever goes to plan and you have to focus on the fight in front of you.”
Now 40, Jonas is nearing the end of her career. Her original exit plan was to face Jessica McCaskill after defeating Mayer, followed by a rematch with Katie Taylor. However, those plans were scrapped when Price took over the fight against McCaskill – a decision that left Jonas considering retirement.
“Yeah, so my whole idea was to do McCaskill after Mayer and then Katie [Taylor] And then I stopped boxing,” she explained. “Obviously the Katie vs. Serrano fight got postponed, so I was waiting, and then Mayer’s result happened and people were hanging around and I thought By the way, I’m going to chase the rematch [with Taylor]I wanted a rematch, I thought I could do better, unfortunately it never happened.
“Then they handed McCaskill over to Lauren [Price]so it’s a little confusing and, to be honest, it’s a little frustrating for me. But yeah, we’re here and I have a fight and that’s what I’m here for.
“I think, you know, if I left boxing now, there would be something that I wouldn’t be happy with,” she continued. “That’s what brought me back to professional boxing, because there were things about my amateur career that I wasn’t happy with. So, I couldn’t just walk away.”
Jonas was then asked to name her dream opponent for her career swansong, to which she replied: “Oh, that’s a tough opponent. I’d have to go to Katie [Taylor]. She has defeated me twice [as an amateur and professional]I just couldn’t get over it. ”
